


I'll Take the Words You Gave Me (And Send Them Back to You)

by PimpedOutGreenEars



Series: I Will Keep Calling You to See [2]
Category: Battle Royale (Manga), Battle Royale - All Media Types, Battle Royale - Takami Koushun
Genre: F/M, Sequel to One Call Away, Underage Drinking, pure fluff, very small mention of puking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28211667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PimpedOutGreenEars/pseuds/PimpedOutGreenEars
Summary: A sequel to A Call Away. Title from Calling You by Blue October.Mitsuru gets drunk and decides calling Izumi Kanai is a great idea. It is.
Relationships: Kanai Izumi/Numai Mitsuru
Series: I Will Keep Calling You to See [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066613
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	I'll Take the Words You Gave Me (And Send Them Back to You)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [keitaiijima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/keitaiijima/gifts).



> A request from September that I didn't know I needed to write but totally did.
> 
> If you haven't read part one of this series you can probably still read this, but there will be some confusion.

Sometimes Mitsuru Numai caused his own problems.

It wasn’t like that was often the case. If he was honest, he typically didn’t encounter many problems. When you hung around with Kazuo Kiriyama problems either didn’t come up or were swept under the rug pretty quickly.

But occasionally, when there were problems, they were ones that Mitsuru had brought upon himself.

For example, Mitsuru’s current problem was definitely one he had brought upon himself.

It had started at the high-end liquor store Sho brought them to; it was one of those super fancy ones where they held various alcohol tasting events. Usually when they went to such an establishment, it was to case the joint or rob it. But this time Zuki had brought a key. Apparently Sho had recognized the owner at his own father’s bar and had snagged the key when he wasn’t looking.

 _“Really this is a matter of gay solidarity. So sweet of him to treat me and my friends to some drinks,”_ Sho had said with a smirk as he’d let them in the back door.

After that, they’d gotten comfortable and had started drinking. It was turning out to be a fun evening. But even on fun evenings, there were rules. One of those rules was to respect their boss, Kazuo Kiriyama.

Mitsuru had let it slide the first time Sho had called Kazuo by his first name, instead sending him a warning glare. But Zuki had only smiled, and a few minutes later he’d done the same thing.

That was when Mitsuru reminded him that he needed to call Kazuo ‘Boss.’ It wasn’t like that was news to Zuki. Their whole gang knew Kazuo was the boss and to address him as such. To not was a major sign of disrespect. Sho knew that.

So, when Zuki had started in with the Kazuo-kuns, Mitsuru had told him to knock it off.

And, yeah, maybe Mitsuru could have said it in a nicer way than he did. Maybe he hadn’t had to tell Sho that he needed to ‘keep his gay shit to himself.’

But come on! Who flirted with their boss?

Zuki could say what he wanted to other guys (Mitsuru wouldn’t even care if it were Ryuhei or Hiroshi), but Kazuo was off limits. It was a matter of respect.

At first Mitsuru had thought Zuki was going to take it in stride. He’d looked so calm about it.

But then he’d started in about how sensitive Mitsuru was. And then he’d taken it a step further and had started saying how _poor Mitsu_ was even sensitive when it came to alcohol.

He had clearly been goading Mitsuru, but that was the kind of thing that never became obvious to Mitsuru until he’d already fallen for it. So, it wasn’t until he’d told Zuki that he could drink just as much as him that he’d realized his mistake.

Because the thing was, Zuki could _drink_. He tended to stick to screwdrivers and mimosas, but he drank _a lot_ of them. And when he did drink something harder, he never made a face about it. He could shoot whiskey with the best of them. Really not a surprise given his intimidating size and the fact that he’d grown up in a bar.

Point was, Mitsuru had realized that he’d screwed up the second he’d said he could drink as much as Sho. But his pride was on the line, so he hadn’t backed down.

Instead, he’d drank.

And drank.

And drank.

And that was why he was currently sitting on a chair, swaying a little back and forth.

“Mitsu, are you still doing okay?” Sho asked with a grin on his face as he sipped on his drink. He was sitting across from Mitsuru, a wine barrel in between them. His legs were crossed and although his cheeks were red, he didn’t look like he was too worse for wear.

“’M fine,” Mitsuru said, despite feeling like the entire room was spinning. He was shitfaced and if he focused a little, he knew it. But focusing was difficult at the moment. “You can—can keep g-goin’. ‘M fine.”

Sho giggled. “Oh, _of course_ , sweetie.”

Ryuhei scoffed from the wine barrel table beside theirs, where he and Hiroshi were taking turns stacking shot glasses into a tower while Kazuo watched. “Fuck, man, just give. Ya can’t outdrink, Zuki.”

Mitsuru quickly turned to glare at Ryuhei and almost fell out of his seat because of it. Luckily, he caught hold of the wine barrel turned table and was able to stay upright.

“The fuck you know? Ya couldn’t e-even outdrink ‘iroshi,” Mitsuru snarled.

“Hey! I can drink plenty!” Hiroshi yelled indignantly, pausing the hand that was about to add a shot glass to the tower.

“Hey, play the damn game! We can tell him how full o’ shit he is later,” Ryuhei snapped.

Mitsuru blinked; he hadn’t realized they were playing a game. He somehow focused on that and not on how full of shit he was. “What are ya playin’?”

“It is like Jenga,” Kazuo explained. “They are taking turns placing glasses on the structure, and which ever one of them knocks it over loses.”

“Oh,” Mitsuru said as he looked at the tower. Of course, to him it looked like there were at least two towers. “Who’s winnin’?”

“I do not believe you can be ‘winning’ at this game until you have already won,” Kazuo said before taking a sip of his drink. “I am still uncertain who I believe will win. They have both ingested a significant amount of alcohol and neither has a strong understanding of architecture.”

“I know plenty about… whatever you just said,” Hiroshi finished lamely before finally placing his glass on the tower.

For a second the tower looked like it might be stable, but then all at once the glasses came crashing down.

“Damnit!” Hiroshi yelled as glass scattered. He’d somehow managed to cut his hand almost immediately.

“Told ya I’d win!” Ryuhei yelled, not seeming to care about the blood on Hiroshi’s hand or the glass scattered around them.

“That was not structurally sound,” Kazuo observed.

“I’m bleeding!” Hiroshi yelled quite dramatically for the small size of the cut. Then in a less dramatic and more hopeful voice he asked, “Do ya think it’ll leave a cool scar?”

“Maybe a scar to remind yer of the day ya lost!” Ryuhei taunted.

Sho shook his head. “No, honey. That most certainly will not leave a scar,” he said as he observed the scene with an amused smile. “Now come over here before you really do hurt yourself.”

Hiroshi got up and walked the few short steps to Sho, whom he presented his hand to.

“Aw, do you need me to kiss it better?” Sho cooed.

“Does that actually work?” Hiroshi asked curiously. Sho shook his head again.

Sho then looked over at Ryuhei, who looked like he was about to gloat some more. “Could you stop celebrating long enough to find something to clean his hand? I don’t want him to get blood on my outfit.”

Ryuhei scoffed. “Fine.” He then got up to go find something, but not before purposefully bumping into Hiroshi.

“Hey!” Hiroshi yelled despite having barely been bumped. Ryuhei only sniggered.

“Boys, please,” Sho said as though he was a father talking to his young children, which was terrible to think because Sho would have much cuter children than Ryuhei and Hiroshi.

“Are ya- are ya gonna drink more?” Mitsuru asked. Damn, the room was really spinning.

Sho took what felt like a very long and thorough look at him. “No, I think I’ve had enough. You’ve definitely proved your point to me, Mitsu.”

Mitsuru nodded, almost in surprise. Sho didn’t seem that wasted, but then maybe Mitsuru just couldn’t tell because of how wasted he was. He guessed all that mattered was that he’d preserved his pride and proved his point… Whatever the hell that had been.

“Good. Tha’s good. Tol’ ya I could,” Mitsuru slurred. Sho probably wouldn’t notice.

Sho hummed, looking amused. “Maybe you should drink some water now? Dehydration is bad for your skin,” Sho said as Ryuhei finally returned with a wet towel.

“’M fine,” Mitsuru said, not wanting to seem like he was too drunk. He’d sobor up soon anyway.

“Whatever you say,” Sho said as he took the towel from Ryuhei and started wiping the blood off of Hiroshi’s hand, tisking as he did so. “Your nails are so dirty; you really need to practice better hygiene.”

“They ain’t that bad, are they?” Hiroshi asked as he looked at the hand Sho wasn’t currently cleaning.

“Maybe they wouldn’t be if yer ever washed yer hands,” Ryuhei said as he watched Sho clean up Hiroshi, who was barely even bleeding.

“I wash my hands just as much as you do!” Hiroshi argued.

“Yer way dirtier than me!” Ryuhei yelled back, probably just happy to have something he could yell about.

“Neither of you wash your hands after you pee, so I don’t want to hear it,” Sho chastised.

“You don’t pee on your hands!” Hiroshi and Ryuhei yelled in unison as Sho groaned in disgust. It was unfortunately a reoccurring debate within the Kiriyama Family.

Kazuo stood up suddenly, and the guys were quiet as they looked to him.

“I am going to return home now,” Kazuo said, not elaborating further. If it were anyone else, the guys would have given him a hard time about leaving so early (it wasn’t even dark out!), but you simply didn’t say that kind of thing to Kazuo Kiriyama.

“’M gonna go too,” Mitsuru said, deciding that it was a good idea to leave now. Then the guys would never realize how drunk he was! It was a brilliant move on his part.

“Are you sure you want to leave now, Mitsu?” Sho asked, brow raised.

“Yeah! It ain’t even late!” Hiroshi said. He obviously didn’t realize how drunk Mitsuru was.

“Nah, I got- I got shit I gotta do,” Mitsuru said before standing up.

When he stood up the room spun a little bit, but he felt stable on his feet. At least stable enough. There was no way anyone could tell how wasted he was. He felt confident about that even as he used the edge of the wine barrel table to support himself.

“Man, whatever, fuckin’ lame,” Ryuhei said as he sat down in his seat again and took a swig of his drink.

“More booze for us,” Hiroshi said happily, despite the fact that there was no way the Kiriyama Family could drink all of the alcohol in the place.

A few more goodbyes were said as Mitsuru followed Kazuo out the still unlocked backdoor. Once they were outside the fresh air hit Mitsuru and he thought he felt a little better.

Mitsuru had stopped and was leaning against the wall when Kazuo looked back at him.

“Do you require assistance home?” Kazuo asked as he observed Mitsuru’s position. “You appear quite intoxicated.”

Mitsuru was immediately embarrassed. If there was one person Mitsuru didn’t want to look weak in front of, it was Kazuo. He was supposed to be his advisor, his righthand man! Not some lightweight with pride so fragile he could be goaded into anything.

But it was also nice that Kazuo was offering him help home. And he’d even waited to mention that he knew Mitsuru was drunk until they were away from their friends. He and Kazuo truly had an unbreakable bond.

Still, he wouldn’t ever inconvenience his boss.

“Nah, ya don’t need ta do that. I- I can make it.” Mitsuru said, striving to sound confident and not drunk. “I just need a second.”

Kazuo nodded, and Mitsuru closed his eyes as he braced his hands on his knees.

He felt like his eyes had only been closed for a matter of seconds when he decided he actually could use some help home. He didn’t feel very good. Moving had definitely made him feel worse. But when he opened his eyes Kazuo was no longer in front of him and the sun had started to go down.

Mitsuru wondered just how long he had been standing there. But he didn’t take time to think on it. He needed to get home before the guys decided to leave and saw he was still just standing outside the backdoor.

Mitsuru walked for a while toward home. He felt unsteady on his feet, but he tried not to let that bother him. It wasn’t like he’d never walked home drunk before. Just maybe not this drunk.

His walk was uneventful until he almost walked headfirst into an old couple walking around the corner.

The old woman gasped, and Mitsuru immediately felt apologetic toward her.

“’M sorry. I-I ain’t payin’ attention ta where I’m goin’,” Mitsuru said, bowing a little. The action made his stomach flop angrily. But when he looked up the woman was looking at him kindly, so that was good enough.

“That’s all right,” the old man said, taking a look at the dangerous, and obviously drunk, looking teenager in front of him, who seemed to have perfect manners. It was a strange sight. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, ’m fine! ‘M fine. Sorry again ‘bout that. Have a good night,” Mitsuru said before bowing again and walking around the old couple.

As he continued his walk, he thought about the old couple a little. It was nice to see an old couple together looking happy. He thought maybe they had been holding hands.

His mind went to Izumi Kanai then. He’d like to hold her hand, even though she thought her fingers were too short for some reason. He thought they were good fingers.

But she probably wouldn’t want to hold his hand anyway, even though he did wash it after he peed. She was way too good for him. But he still wanted to hold hers.

She was so nice and real cute, too. And smart. She was real smart. He’d liked working with her on their class project. Things that didn’t make sense in class made sense when she said them. He liked listening to her talk about stuff, especially stuff she liked.

He thought back to their phone conversation a few weeks back. He knew she’d only called him on accident, but he’d liked talking to her.

Suddenly it dawned on him that he could call her. That sounded like a good idea, especially since it seemed like a good time to take a break from walking. He looked around himself and realized he was standing in front of a park. Was that even on his way home?

He didn’t think so, but that was okay. He’d get home eventually. After he talked to Kanai. Talking to Kanai was a good idea.

He walked into the park and took a seat on the merry-go-round, which spun just a little from his weight, but luckily stopped. He didn’t think he could handle spinning.

He pulled out his cellphone and carefully opened his contacts to find Kanai’s number. Once he did, he carefully pressed the call button.

The phone rang for a while, and Mitsuru started to get sad thinking she might not answer. She probably had better things to do on a Saturday than talk to him.

* * *

Of course, Izumi didn’t have better things to do that Saturday.

Her parents were attending a banquet of some sort, one that her father had even admitted was probably going to be boring, so she was sitting at home by herself.

She was organizing some clothes in her walk-in closet when she heard her cellphone ring from its place on her bed. She thought it might be her parents calling to check on her but a quick look at the clock on her way to her bed said that was unlikely. They’d only been gone for half an hour.

She picked her phone up curiously, only to immediately drop it upon seeing the name. Then in her scramble to pick it up, she kicked it under her bed. She quickly dropped to her knees and grabbed for the phone. As she did so, her heart and mind raced. 

Mitsuru Numai was calling her. Why was he calling her? Was it an accident? Did he mean to call her? Did he want to talk to her about something?

She finally got her phone back in her hands and quickly answered it, fearing that it was about to stop ringing.

“Hi! Hello! Numai?” Izumi said, hoping that he was still on the other end of the phone.

“Yeah, hey,” Mitsuru answered. Izumi was relieved.

“Hi,” she said again before grimacing at herself. “Sorry, I’ve already said that. Um, what’s up?” That was better. Super casual. Not awkward. She finally stood up and sat on her bed.

“Nothin’ I’m just- ‘m sitting at the park,” Mitsuru said. He sounded weird. Like he was slurring his words. “It’s a real nice park. Lotsa stuff.”

Izumi’s brows furrowed; she was suddenly worried. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? Y-yeah, ‘m fine,” Mitsuru said. “I just—talkin’ ta you is—” His voice stopped and in the background Izumi heard retching.

“Oh my gosh! Numai? Are you okay?” Izumi asked again. “Are you sick?”

For a second the retching continued but then it stopped, and he groaned. “’M sorry ‘bout that.”

“Are you okay?” she asked for a third time, as she stood up from her bed. “Where are you? Are you by yourself?”

“’M at the park. The nice one. I think it’s near your place. I don’ know,” he then groaned a little. “’M sorry. I shouldn’t—‘m botherin’ you,” Mitsuru said. His words sounded less slurred now, but his voice also sounded thick.

“No, you aren’t!” Izumi quickly reassured him as she hurried out of her room and down the stairs. “Are you by yourself?”

“Yeah, I left the guys,” Mitsuru said, then added apologetically, “’M sorry Kanai. I didn’ mean ta call. ‘M drunk.”

For a second Izumi felt a stab of disappointment. Calling her _had_ been an accident. But that didn’t really matter. Numai needed help, and she definitely owed him one from a few weeks ago.

“That’s okay,” She said softly as she put on her shoes. “I’ll come meet you.”

“Ya will?” Mitsuru asked sounding surprised. “Ya don’t have to do that.”

“I want to,” she said, causing her own blush. She opened her front door and started off toward the park. She was pretty sure she knew the one he was talking about. “I mean—You didn’t have to come help me a few weeks ago, but you did.”

“Was no big deal,” Mitsuru said. “It was nice.”

Izumi blushed. She thought it’d been nice too, even though it’d only happened because she was terrified. She looked up at the sky and then hurried her steps. She wanted to make it to him before it got dark.

“Why are you drunk by yourself, anyway?” Izumi asked. She herself had never drank anything more than a sip of champagne at a party once, which she’d immediately regretted. Her mother and father had laughed at her scrunched-up face, and then her father had assured her it was okay, because alcohol was an acquired taste that she was much too young for.

But when she went to parties with her parents, including their own, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to be drunk. But usually, those people were with other people, having fun and being the life of the party. So, she wondered why Mitsuru was alone, especially when he had such a close group of friends.

“I kinda messed up. I think I was mean ta Zuki. I didn’t mean ta be,” Mitsuru confessed.

Izumi frowned. “Did you two have a fight?” She knew she hated fighting with her friends, so she hoped Mitsuru wasn’t fighting with his.

“Not ‘xactly. It’s hard ta explain,” Mitsuru said. “He ain’t mad or nothin’. He just got me ta drink against him. And I didn’ want him or the guys ta know I was drunk, so I left.”

“Why didn’t you want them to know?” Izumi asked. If they’d been drinking together, wouldn’t it be normal to get drunk?

“Zuki said I couldn’ handle my booze. I didn’ wanna admit he was right. Didn’ wanna look weak in front o’ everyone,” Mitsuru said, sounding disappointed in himself.

Izumi frowned as she walked around a corner. She was getting close to the park. “But they’re your friends; it’s okay to look weak in front of them.”

“What do ya mean?” Mitsuru asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Izumi’s cheeks heated up and she worried that what she said sounded dumb. Maybe boy friendships didn’t work like girl friendships? Or maybe there were different rules because they were part of a ‘gang?’ But they’d honestly never seemed like much of a gang to her, just a group of really close friends.

She decided to try to explain.

“Um, just—Do you remember when I dropped the baton at the relay race?” Izumi asked. Just the mention of the memory made her a bit embarrassed. Even though no one had been mean to her about it, she still couldn’t think back to it without feeling a little shame.

“Yeah, o’ course.”

Izumi’s cheeks grew redder. Of course, he remembered it.

“You were real upset when I saw ya after,” Mitsuru said softly.

“Yeah, my reaction was almost as bad as dropping the baton.” Izumi had burst into tears immediately and had had to be consoled by her friends. She’d just happened to see Mitsuru on her way to wash her face.

Mitsuru laughed lightly. “It wasn’t so bad. And I’d still bet on ya next time.”

Izumi blushed again, now feeling embarrassed for a different reason. No matter how many times he was nice to her, she always felt so awkward around him. But not the bad kind of awkward! Just like she wasn’t sure how to actually function like a human being around him.

“A-anyway, the reason I mentioned it is, I felt pretty weak then. Like I’d really let everyone down, especially Yukie.”

Mitsuru made an offended noise over the phone, like he couldn’t believe anyone could be upset with her. She lightly laughed.

“I know it sounds silly, but that’s how it felt at the time,” Izumi said, still smiling lightly. “But my friends were all really nice about it. Yukie had been so excited about winning the games, but she never made me feel guilty about it. So even though I felt pretty weak, it was okay. Even though I was really embarrassed to have them all trying to reassure me, I was glad to have them. I guess I’m just saying that I think it’s okay to look weak in front of good friends.”

Mitsuru hummed. “Guess that makes sense. Zuki prob’ly won’t say much about it since he made his point. Ryuhei might, but he’ll forget about it the secon’ Hiroshi starts a fire or somethin’.”

Izumi laughed at the casualness of his statement. Just how often did Kuronaga start fires?

“Boss offered ta take me home, but I didn’ wanna bother him,” Mitsuru admitted.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t have been bothering him. Friends help each other,” she said gently as she walked into the park. She looked around and spotted Mitsuru sitting with his cheek against a bar on the merry-go-round. She headed toward him quickly.

“Yer real smart, Kanai,” Mitsuru said genuinely.

Izumi laughed nervously. “No, I just need help a lot,” she said as he finally noticed her.

He grinned up at her from his spot on the merry-go-round as he put his phone in his pocket. Even though she knew he’d been sick earlier (and she could smell and see where on the ground beside him), he still made her heart beat a little faster.

But not, like, in a crush way! He was just a friend! A friend who made her really nervous, and who she had trouble making eye contact with for long periods of time without blushing.

Yep, no crush to report.

“Looks like yer the one comin’ to help me,” Mitsuru said, smiling after.

Izumi almost couldn’t look at the smile he was giving her. His facial expression was so soft. Not that he usually looked at her with a mean face, just, he looked extra relaxed!

It was cute.

In a totally friendly way!

Izumi tried not to blush at her own thoughts as she smiled back.

“Will you get sick again if you walk?” she asked, pointedly not looking at the place where he’d gotten sick.

He looked confused for a second, then looked at the spot of the ground she was avoiding. Then he understood.

“Nah, I’ll be fine,” he said quickly, as he attempted to stand, only to fail and fall back down when he attempted to raise himself up with the support of one of the merry-go-round bars. The merry-go-round spun a little, but Mitsuru stopped it with his feet.

“Oh! Don’t move so fast! Let me help,” she said before getting closer to him and offering out her hands.

He looked at them for a second like he couldn’t quite believe they were there before he reached out cautiously and took hold of them.

She meant to pull him up then, but for a second she couldn’t really breathe. It was like the air was knocked out of her and all she could think about was how warm and rough his hands were.

Then she snapped herself out of it, fearing that she’d been staring at their joined hands like a total creep.

“Uh, okay, I’ll pull you up on three,” she said, looking down at the ground.

“Huh? Oh, y-yeah,” he agreed, tightening his grip on her hands.

“One…Two…Three!” She pulled on his hands as hard as she could, knowing that she wasn’t exactly the strongest person. Or strong at all really.

He came up fast and the momentum sent him straight into her. For a second she thought the two of them would fall on the ground, but they somehow managed to grab each other in a way that stabilized them.

“Shit, ‘m sorry! Are ya okay?” Mitsuru asked, sounding worried.

“I’m fine; are you okay?” she asked, sounding just as concerned.

“Yeah,” he said slowly as he seemed to take in how they were standing.

When they’d moved to stabilize each other, his hands had ended up around her middle, while she’d grabbed onto his (muscular) biceps. They were only a few centimeters apart and from an outside perspective it probably looked pretty intimate. It felt a little intimate.

They made eye contact for only a second before they both let go of each other, both blushing hard as they averted eye contact.

“I-I’m sorry!” Izumi said. She hadn’t meant to grab hold of him like that! She really hadn’t!

“No, ’m sorry! I didn’ mean ta grab ya. I just didn wanna knock you over,” he said desperately as he backed up from her a little, almost knocking back into the merry-go-round. Thankfully he stopped right as his right pant leg grazed it.

Seeing him backing up, she quickly took a couple of steps back as well, suddenly worried she was crowding him.

“I-I should go home,” Mitsuru said in a tone that Izumi couldn’t quite place. “’M sorry for makin’ ya come all this way, Kanai.”

Mitsuru started to walk away, but his steps were clumsy, and Izumi couldn’t just let him go home like that by himself.

“W-Wait!” Izumi said, as she lightly grabbed his retreating shoulder.

The contact seemed to surprise him, and Mitsuru stood still as she dropped his shoulder and moved to be in front of him.

“Please don’t take off by yourself,” Izumi pleaded. “It’s starting to get late. I’d feel awful letting you walk home alone like this.”

Mitsuru’s features looked conflicted, like he wasn’t sure if he should stay or go. “Ya don’t have ta feel bad. I’ll be fine. Ya shouldn’t worry ‘bout me.”

“I would though,” she said looking down at the ground for a second before gathering up her courage to continue. “So, you should come with me to my house.”

“Your house?” Mitsuru asked, his eyes becoming wide.

“Yes,” she said trying to channel her inner Yukie, so she could convince him. “You should come sit down and drink some water. I’d feel much better if you did that before catching the train home. Plus, my house is almost on the way.” Izumi felt like she’d pled her case well.

Mitsuru looked convinced as well, but then his brows creased. “What about yer parents? They ain’t gonna want—”

“They aren’t home,” Izumi said quickly before he could think too much about what her parents would think. “They went to a banquet. They won’t be home for a few hours.”

“Ya really don’ mind?” Mitsuru asked. “’cause I can make it home.” Even as Mitsuru said it, he seemed to wobble a little.

Izumi smiled gently. “I really don’t mind.”

“Okay,” Mitsuru agreed.

“Great! Let’s go!” Izumi said, trying her best to take charge of the situation. She wasn’t usually the one in charge during anything that could be considered ‘a situation,’ but she figured with Mitsuru in his current state she should do her best.

He grinned at her and took a step forward, only to stumble a little.

Izumi’s eyes went wide. “Are you okay?”

Mitsuru laughed. “’M fine. I was just sittin’ too long. Promise I won’ fall on ya.”

Izumi relaxed a little, and then the two of them began to walk side-by-side out of the park. Mitsuru was still a little wobbly, but she felt secure that if he started to fall, she could stabilize him. Although hopefully not like before, with him holding her waist, and her hands on his arms, and them standing so close together that they probably looked like they were about to kiss…

Nope! Not like that! Would be terrible to be that close again!

Izumi flushed as she looked at the ground. Sometimes it was so hard to think around him.

“Hey, Kanai,” Mitsuru said once they were walking on the sidewalk.

“Hmm?” she asked as she broke out of her thoughts.

“Thanks fer comin’ an’ gettin’ me. Yer always so nice,” he said earnestly, making Izumi fight the urge to hide her eyes.

“You are too,” she said feeling just as earnest. He was always so kind to her.

“Yeah, but yer easy ta be nice to,” he said, grinning at her.

“So are you!” Izumi argued, turning her head to look at him instead of in front of her. She couldn’t imagine ever wanting to be mean to him.

“Nah, ‘m big an’ scary,” Mitsuru said, giving her the softer than usual smile from earlier. “Easier ta be nice ta a cute girl.”

Izumi swore her heart stopped. Had he just called her cute? Did he mean her? Or just cute girls in general? Maybe he thought all girls were cute? Or maybe he meant cute the way little kids were cute. Did she look like a little kid still? She didn’t think she did, but maybe she did?

There were too many variables to even possibly understand what he meant.

So, she decided to focus on the part that she did understand.

“I don’t think you’re big and scary,” she said, hoping the blush on her face wasn’t very visible now that the sun was setting in front of them.

“’M glad,” he said. Then, “Do ya think animals ever watch the sunset?”

“Huh?” she asked, completely surprised by the subject change.

“The sunset. Ya think they think it’s pretty or ya think they don’ notice?” Mitsuru didn’t ask in a way that made the question sound profound, he simply sounded genuinely curious.

Izumi couldn’t help giggling a little at it. And when she laughed, he joined her.

“I don’t know,” she said finally, looking up at the splash of colors on the horizon. “I hope they do.”

“Yeah, that’d be cool,” he said.

And then they both laughed again, and although Izumi couldn’t pinpoint what was funny, she knew she’d think about the moment later.

They reached Izumi’s house not long after that, just as it was actually getting dark. Of course, Izumi wasn’t too worried about that given that Mitsuru was with her. It was hard to feel scared with Mitsuru there, even if he was drunk.

She unlocked the front door and pushed it open. “This is it,” she announced to him, even though it was pretty obvious.

They were standing in the foyer, which held a large hall closet, a sitting bench with storage inside, and a small table off to the side with flowers on it.

She sat down on the bench to slide her shoes off and invited Mitsuru to do the same. He plopped down next to her and began untying his shoes.

“Yer sure it’s cool that ‘m here?” Mitsuru asked as he looked around.

“Of course! My parents would want you to be safe, anyway.” Her parents would probably also want her to not be alone with a boy in the house, but that wasn’t something she was going to think about at the moment.

Mitsuru looked a little doubtful, but he didn’t voice those doubts. Once their shoes were removed Izumi helped Mitsuru up (much less dramatically than the last time), and then walked him into the formal living room.

“You can sit here,” she told him pointing to a couch. “I’ll go get you some water, okay?”

He nodded as he sat down, “’Kay.”

She smiled at him and then took off toward the kitchen.

* * *

Sitting on the couch in the Kanai family home felt weird. Mitsuru couldn’t help but feel like he really shouldn’t be allowed at a house so nice, especially with a girl as nice as Izumi.

But he _was_ there, and Kanai was going to get him water. Mitsuru couldn’t think of a word to describe the feeling, but had his vocabulary been a little better, he probably would have called it surreal.

There was a lot to look at as his eyes made their way around the room. The room held a fireplace, with a fancy looking mantle above it, covered in family photos and tasteful decorations. There was also a sizable crystal chandelier. And in the corner Mitsuru saw a big black piano.

Izumi walked back into the room a few seconds later carrying a large glass of water.

“Here.” She handed him the glass before taking a seat next to him.

“Thanks,” he said before taking a long drink of it. He wasn’t sure if it tasted so good because he was really thirsty or because the Kanai family had better drinking water than his family had. Maybe both.

“Is there anything else I can get you?” Izumi asked. “I’m not really sure what helps when you’re drunk.” She moved some of her hair behind her ear, and Mitsuru couldn’t help staring.

“This is good. I’ll sober up in no time,” he reassured her, and she smiled.

His eyes then went back to the piano as he thought back to their talk a few weeks ago.

“Actually,” he said still staring at the piano. “I hear music helps.”

She looked confused for a second, but then looked to the piano and laughed.

“I did promise you I’d play for you, didn’t I?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, but then quickly added, “But only if ya want to.” The last thing he wanted to do was ask Kanai to do something she didn’t actually want to do. Especially when she was going out of her way to help him.

She was really amazing.

“No, I don’t mind!” Izumi said, standing up and walking over to the piano. She opened the wooden covering over the keys and then looked over at him. “Any requests?”

Mitsuru had absolutely no idea what to ask her to play. He didn’t listen to a ton of music, and when he did, it wasn’t usually instrumentals. So, for a second he blanked, but then he smiled as something came to him.

“You were workin’ on somethin’ with yer piano teacher a few weeks ago when we met up, right? You should play that,” he suggested. He assumed that if she’d stayed over at practice, she must have been working on something pretty good.

“Oh! Yeah, I was, let me find the music,” Izumi said as she shuffled through a few pieces that were sitting on the music stand on the piano. “Here it is, Je te veux.”

She sat the music up in front on her and then looked over at Mitsuru looking almost shy. He grinned back. He was excited to hear her play.

She smiled back before taking a deep breath and then beginning to play.

Mitsuru had never listened to classical music before, but he thought it was kind of pretty. At least the song Izumi was playing was. He wouldn’t be able to explain it verbally, but the way the melody moved was interesting and something about it seemed to fit the girl playing it.

He drank his water silently as he listened, eventually looking at her hands and the way they moved fluidly against the keys. Maybe it was because he was still pretty buzzed, but he was entranced by her hands. He wasn’t sure how she could move them like that and make it look so easy.

When she finally finished, she took another deep breath and looked over to him.

“I knew you were good,” he said, grinning at her.

She laughed nervously. “Thank you. I actually messed up a few times,” she admitted sheepishly.

Mitsuru shook his head. “I like how you played it better,” he said despite having never heard the original.

She laughed again and Mitsuru really liked the way it sounded.

“What’s it about?” Mitsuru asked.

“Huh?” she asked.

“The song. Does it have words and stuff?” Mitsuru asked. “It made me think of you.”

Izumi looked down at the keys instead of at him. “Oh, no, that’s probably just because I was playing it,” she said as she fiddled with a ring on her middle finger. “It translates to ‘I Want You.’ It’s a love song. I-I don’t know all of the words.”

“O-oh,” Mitsuru said, feeling stupid. Of course, a song called ‘I Want You’ would make him think of her. “It’s a real good song.”

“Y-yeah, I like it too,” Izumi said as she focused on straightening sheet music. He wished he could tell what she was thinking.

“I couldn’t ever do that. Play like that, I mean,” Mitsuru said, deciding to switch the subject before he managed to accidently pull his heart out of his chest and hand it to her. “Yer fingers were movin’ so fast.”

“I’m sure you could do it with practice,” she said confidently.

“Nah, I doubt it. I ain’t very good with little details,” Mitsuru admitted. But the confidence she seemed to have in him made him feel warm.

“I’m not always either,” Izumi said as she scooted over to the end of the bench. “Do you want to see a scale?”

“Sure.”

Mitsuru finished the rest of his water and then walked over to sit by her at the piano. They were so close at the piano that Mitsuru could almost feel her body heat. He still didn’t think he was good enough to be sitting with her, but he felt so lucky that he was anyway.

“Put your hands like this,” Izumi said as she adjusted his fingers on the keys. “This key is ‘C,’ it’s the easiest key to start with.”

Izumi walked him through a scale, half moving his hands for him. Mitsuru was pretty sure that sobered him up more than any amount of water ever could. Her hands were soft, and he wondered what it’d be like to just sit and hold them. But having her hands on him at all was almost more than he could take. His stomach was no longer sick but flopping pleasantly. He felt almost guilty by how much he wanted her touch.

“You just finished your first scale,” Izumi said once he’d played a few notes. She looked proud of him and Mitsuru just hoped he wasn’t blushing.

“Nah, you did all the work. Let me see if I can do it.”

He couldn’t do it, at least not without her help, but that was all right. He was never going to be a piano player, but he liked playing with her.

Once they’d ran through the scale a few times, she showed him a couple of other things as they talked. She told him about how when she was a kid, she used to play Chopsticks as fast as she could for fun (and of course had then played him Chopsticks), and he told her about how sometimes in the winter a couple of his fingers didn’t feel quite right, probably from when he’d had them broken (he’d be sparse with the details on that one).

Before Mitsuru knew it, he felt completely sober again. But he was having too much fun to mention it. So, it didn’t come up until Izumi’s phone started ringing.

“Oh, sorry,” Izumi said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. Mitsuru saw before she answered that it was her mom calling.

“Hi, Mom,” Izumi greeted. Then, “No, everything is fine.”

Izumi’s mom talked for a minute, with Izumi occasionally nodding even though her mother obviously couldn’t see her doing it. After a minute Izumi responded, “Okay, I’ll see you soon.” She then hung up the phone.

“Yer parents on their way home?” Mitsuru asked.

“Yeah, my mom said they’d be back in 20 minutes or so,” Izumi said sounding sad. “How are you feeling?”

Mitsuru smiled. “Think I’m back to normal,” he then stood up and walked around for a few seconds. “See, I’m not even stumblin’.”

Izumi laughed before standing up with him. “I’m so glad! I was so worried about you when you first called.”

“I’m sorry I worried you,” Mitsuru said, even though it made him feel special knowing that she cared. But she’d probably worry if anyone in their class called her drunk.

“It’s okay, I’m just glad you’re fine now,” Izumi said, smiling up at him. “Plus, I finally got to play for you.”

Mitsuru grinned. “I’d listen to you play anytime,” he said, and he meant it.

“Thank you,” she said before looking down again.

She walked him back to the foyer, where she stood with him as he put on his shoes.

Once they were on, he faced her again. “Thanks for taking care of me tonight. You really didn’t have ta, but I’m glad ya did. This was fun.”

She grinned. “It was, wasn’t it?”

“We should hang out more often,” Mitsuru said without thinking.

“Y-yeah! That would be fun!” Izumi said, just a little too loudly for the space.

“Cool, I’ll see you Monday,” Mitsuru said before opening the door.

“Text me when you make it home?” Izumi asked quietly.

Just like it had a few weeks ago, the request made his stomach flop.

“Okay,” he said as he stepped out the door. “Have a good night!”

“You, too!” she called before shutting the door.

Mitsuru grinned as he walked down the long driveway of the Kanai residence. Maybe he should get drunk more often if it meant getting to hang out with Izumi Kanai.

* * *

Izumi was getting ready for bed when her phone buzzed on her nightstand. She grinned before going to pick it up. As she’d hoped, it was from Numai.

_Home safe. Thanks for the piano lesson :) Goodnight!_

She grinned before typing her own message.

_You were a great student! Sleep well :)_

When she dreamed that night Mitsuru was there and Je te veux played in the background.


End file.
